Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29957178›Full record

ArticleeLife2018

Predictive regulation and human design.

Peter Sterling

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in eLife, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Oxytocin and oxygen: the evolution of a solution to the 'stress of life'.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022
    Review
  4. Review
  5. Oxytocin and love: Myths, metaphors and mysteries.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2022
    Review
  6. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Peter SterlingDepartment of Neuroscience, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States.ORCID 0000-0001-5010-8907

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Organisms evolving toward greater complexity were selected across aeons to use energy and resources efficiently. Efficiency depended on prediction at every stage: first a clock to predict the planet's statistical regularities; then a brain to predict bodily needs and compute commands that dynamically adjust the flows of energy and nutrients. Predictive regulation (allostasis) frugally matches resources to needs and thus forms a core principle of our design. Humans, reaching a pinnacle of cognitive complexity, eventually produced a device (the steam engine) that converted thermal energy to work and were suddenly awash in resources. Today boundless consumption in many nations challenges all our regulatory mechanisms, causing obesity, diabetes, drug addiction and their sequelae. So far we have sought technical solutions, such as drugs, to treat complex circuits for metabolism, appetites and mood. Here I argue for a different approach which starts by asking: why does our regulatory system, which evolution tuned for small satisfactions, now constantly demand 'more'?

Indexed as

Adaptation, PhysiologicalAllostasisBiological EvolutionBrainCardiovascular DiseasesEnergy-Generating ResourcesEnergy MetabolismHumansIndustrial DevelopmentObesityOrigin of LifeSubstance-Related Disordersallostasisconsumptionenergy constrainthuman biologymedicineneurosciencereward prediction

Identifiers

PMID29957178
PMCPMC6025954

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.